Finding Pirates in the Caribbean

When you go on cruise, you’re given an itinerary of ports and excursions you can take. What you don’t really know is how beautiful the ports are. You won’t know how fun the excursion will be or what you’ll find when you get off the beaten path. Join us this week as we take the road less traveled where we set about finding pirates in the Caribbean! (Arrrr!)

The Quick Catch Up

In case you’re new here, welcome! Also, let’s get you up to speed. This May we had the opportunity to go on our very first cruise. We bought all the gear we needed for a frictionless experience. We decided to upgrade our room to a balcony suite and we decided to add in the Wifi / Drink Package. The last thing we had to choose…what we would do at each island.

Excursions with an Expert

Having never done this before, we decided to ask our brilliant friend, Shannon, to choose what we would do and when. She made all the arrangements and sent us our itinerary. Here’s what we had planned:

• Princess Cay – Bahamas, get off the boat and put our toes in the sand
• St. Thomas – snorkeling with sea turtles
• Dominica – waterfall tour
• St. Lucia – get off the boat and walk around
• Martinique – get off the boat and walk around
• Antigua – swimming with sting rays

No Passenger Left Behind

When deciding whether or not you should book an excursion through the cruise line or just hop off the boat to see what you see, keep this in mind. If you book through the cruise line, they will make sure you’re back on board before they leave the port. When you strike out on your own…the ship leaves at its preset time. If you miss it, for whatever reason, you are TOTALLY on your own. That’s right, you could be running down the pier yelling at the big ship to “wait” and they’re not going to turn around.

The Princess Cay Experience

Being our very first time in the Caribbean, we didn’t know how much time to allocate for the surf and sun. We figured it would be hot and sunny so a couple hours on the Bahamian island would be more than enough. That day, we worked out, had breakfast and left for the island around noon. We had our free couples massage scheduled for 4pm so we thought we’d head back at 3pm. Though our skin said a few hours was the right choice, our souls said “we should stay forever!”

Upon seeing the turquois sea and white sand, Stephen stripped off his shirt, shoes, and glasses and ran, full speed, to the water. I had only a couple seconds to snap this picture.

The Bar

Our medallions worked at the tiki-bar to get drinks. No need for cash since we had the drink package. While the mister played in the water, I got drinks and sang along with the reggae band.

The Stuff

We brought our phones with us in water proof cases, figuring we’d want to snap some pics while we were there. I’ll be honest, all I wanted to do was toss my belongings in the sand and run into the water too. But somebody had to watch the stuff. Later I saw lockers just past the bar, but I didn’t want to waste a precious second of my time figuring out how to work the locker. I just wanted to play.

3pm came along too quickly and at 3:30 all the passengers had to queue for the little boat to take us back to the ship. That afternoon we had a wonderfully relaxing couples massage and then had to hustle to make our dinner reservation.

St. Thomas

After a night at sea, we landed at the port of St. Thomas. Our snorkeling experience was set for the afternoon, which meant we had the morning to play and explore. We didn’t waste one minute disembarking. Stephen set out for a run and I…well, I went in search of pirates.

Bluebeard’s Castle

The night before, Stephen asked me what my plan was for adventuring. I indicated that I was going to get off the boat and turn left. I figured that was as good a plan as any. Stephen did a quick Google search and said “You know, there’s a place about a mile’s walk from the port called “Bluebeard’s Castle”.” I was sold. I didn’t care if it was the REAL Bluebeard’s Castle or just a touristy gift shop, I was going.

Lack of Preparation? Eh.

Since I did zero recon before departing the ship, I did a poor job of preparing for the 2 mile walk in 90 degree heat, up a very steep hill. Apparently I thought sun block was optional and that thong sandals would be best with my broken toe. However ill-prepared, I journeyed on.

Who was this Bluebeard, anyway?

While exploring, my son Googled the story of Bluebeard. Apparently he married a woman and gave her the keys to his castle, as he was leaving on business trip. He told her to make herself at home but forbade her to enter one room in the keep. As most of us with inquiring minds would do…she went into that room and found the bodies of all his former wives.

This, my friends, is JUST a fairy tale. Or more like a demon tale, I guess? Bluebeard was a pirate that Disney created and Bluebeard the murderer was a fictional character from France, whose story was later made into an opera. That being said…I still got to see some pirate booty!

The Pirate Shop and the Keys

After completing my tour of the castle grounds, my descent back down the hill was stopped when a groundskeeper told me that the pirate treasures were in the shop around the corner and that the shop keeper could open the museum for me. I mean, how could I not go around a blind corner to some unknown shop to meet someone I never heard of to see pirating stuff. (This is a foreshadowing of my ultimate demise.)

The shop was small but loaded with items recovered by Dave, the shopkeeper, and his friend, the shop owner. As soon as he saw my sweaty eager face, he pulled out a photo album that detailed every dive and treasure they recovered. After ooohing and aaaahing over the contents, I inquired about the $5 tour.

Dave promptly showed me the cast on his leg and asked if I would mind OPENING THE MUSEUM AND TOURING IT ALONE!! I’ve been waiting my whole life for someone to say that to me. Keys in hand, I made my way to the tower. Every room was filled with recovered treasures from the sea. And I felt like the luckiest girl alive. I stopped back by the shop to the return the key and inquired about the smallest recovered gold coin they had made into a pendant. At $450, I decided the pictures would be my souvenirs.

Snorkeling with the Sea Turtles

After reconnecting with the mister, and letting him know how financially responsible I was for NOT buying a $450 gold pirate coin, we got ready for our trip on the catamaran to see some sea turtles. You may remember we bought righteous, waterproof cases for our iphones. Though I brought mine, I decided to leave it in the boat because I need to focus on breathing under water. For some reason, whenever I try to breathe through the snorkel, I end up holding my breath until I turn blue. Well, this time, I solved the issue – as soon as I saw a sea turtle, I forgot all about my breathing because seeing them was AMAZING!

Talk about a Day

Between the private museum tour, pirate booty and sea turtles, I could have went back home the next day and said “I had the BEST TIME ever.” But guess what, this was only day 3! We had so many adventures in store. And you won’t miss a minute, if you join our tribe. You’ll get all the latest along with content curated just for our subscribers. And you can always follow us in real time on Instagram at The__Travel__Oracle. Coming up, we are heading to Florida, Washington and the Ren Fest, Huzzah. Boy, oh boy, ain’t we got fun?